This blog displays scenic photos taken from around Grand Marais, MI. Photos of rockhounding and nature adventures are also posted. Information is included about the Gitche Gumee Agate and History Museum and other scientific subjects. For more information about the museum and our unique mineral art, books, DVDs, and Online rockhounding classes please go to www.agatelady.com.

About Me

After more than a million miles of corporate travel, I moved to my family's home town of Grand Marais, MI in 1994. I now operate the Gitche Gumee Agate and History Museum as well as earn a living as a mineral artist and writer/designer. I hope that this blog will help me share my adventures and art with family, friends, museum patrons, and customers. You can learn more about the museum at www.agatelady.com.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

I am still trying to play catch up with the Hawaii pictures. This posting includes pictures that I took while driving along the east shore of Oahu. My friends, Barb and Tom, had never driven this stretch of road despite their numerous trips to the island to spend at their timeshare. The scenery was incredible.

But first a picture that my friends took of me while I was giving a talk at the Honolulu rock and mineral club.

One of the club members gifted us with Hawaiian leis made out of natural flowers. When we arrived back at our hotel, we put them on a plate with water to keep them fresh.

I heard about chickens that run wild around some of the Hawaiian islands. I saw my first one in a shopping center parking lot. I'll include more information about these chickens in a future posting.

In one of the ponds near the Marriott resort there are black swans that hang out in the pools. The Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) is a large waterbird, which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. The species was hunted to extinction in New Zealand, but later reintroduced. Within Australia they are nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon climatic conditions. Black Swans are large birds with mostly black plumage and red bills. They are monogamous breeders that share incubation duties and cygnet rearing between the sexes.

As we drove to Honolulu on the way to the east shore of the island, I captured the following photo of Diamond Head.

The photo below is also of Diamond Head -- but from a close range.

Then we drove along the east shore of the island. It was incredibly beautiful.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Yesterday it was very sad to leave my friends, Barb and Tom, when they dropped me off at the Honolulu airport. However, it is exciting to now be on Kauai. It was a short flight to cover the 100 miles between airports. If you measure the closest points between the islands, they are 76 miles apart.

I have taken so many pictures that it will take some time to play catch up. Today I'll finish posting the botanical gardens photos and will also include some pictures from the Dole Pineapple Plantation, Oahu's North Shore, and one of the beautiful sunsets we watched from our hotel's balcony.

The picture below I took from the hotel's balcony. I'm including it here to relay the information posted at the botanical gardens about palm trees. There are over 2,500 palm tree species in the world. This group of plants is an ancient species dating back 65 million years ago. They are pollinated by insects and wind.

Another interesting thing about the flora of Hawaii is that there are more endangered plants per square mile in Hawaii than what exists anywhere else in the world. The reasons include loss of habitat, loss of pollinators, invasive species, and introduced animals such as pigs and goats.

Continuing with photos from the botanical gardens, we couldn't help but be amazed at how beautiful the tropical rain forest is -- even when you look up at the canopy.

I like the way the "branches" orient upward on the exotic tree below.

A lot of the tropical trees send out roots to grab a better foothold...

The sign below is for the red flowering plant that follows....

The sign below is for the bizarre plant that follows....

Gigantic fern....

More cool flowers and plants...

We noticed this little guy when we were heading for the exit of the botanical garden...

On the way to the north shore, we stopped at Dole....

Coffee bushes...

North shore....

Along the north shore there are several shrimp farms. We stopped at Giovanni's and ate shrimp.